CHAPTER 3: PARTNERS

After running to their car to grab suitcases, Sarah and Jamie followed Ramsley upstairs to the second floor where he showed them to their separate rooms.

"I believe you will be comfortable in this room Miss Allways," he declared softly, opening the door and standing to the side.

"Thank you. Well, um, goodnight Jamie," she expressed awkwardly, mindful of Ramsley's gaze.

"Yeah, uh goodnight Sarah. I guess I'll just be somewhere down the hall if you need me."

Ramsley turned silently and Jamie followed him down the hallway several more feet. He turned and looked back at Sarah with a grin as he rolled his eyes at the butler.

She chuckled softly and blew Jamie a kiss. He feigned surprise and she stuck out her tongue.

Jamie turned back around just in time as Ramsley too turned as he opened the door. "I believe you will find this suitable," the butler stated curtly.

"Wow. Yes this is wonderful! Like spending the night in a fine hotel. Thank you so much."

"Will that be all?"

"Well," Jamie started as he glanced around his room and his gaze found the king-size bed, "How about some chocolates?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"You know, the little chocolates they put on your pillow at the hotels and…"

Ramsley ignored Jamie and left, closing the door behind him. He went directly to Sarah's room where she pretended to look as though she hadn't been trying to listen to his previous conversation. "Madame," he began as he knocked gently upon her still open door, "should you require anything else there is a bell pull just there for your convenience," he gestured near the doorway.

"Oh. Thank you so much," she expressed and he bowed his head slightly then closed the door behind him.

Sarah decided to unpack a few things to make it look as though she was settling in. Then, she went across the hallway and knocked on Jamie's door.

"Well this is a turn of events," he remorsed after he closed the door. "How's your room?"

"Absolutely beautiful," she gushed. "I hope that if we do sell this place the new owner appreciates it as much as we do. It would be tragic if they renovated it in any way."

"Totally agreed. I mean the majority of everything here looks hand carved or done by hand. The value in that alone is phenomenal. That is, if he doesn't take much of anything with him. But with the size of the house and property space he's still looking at millions I'd estimate." Sarah nodded at this. "Anyways enough about work. We're supposed to be on vacation already."

"Might I remind you whose idea it was to come here?" she mused.

"Oh c'mon Sarah!" he laughed, "This is a great opportunity for us. If you didn't agree you would have told Ramsley no over the phone."

"Oh! So it's on me now is it?" she chuckled, knowing he was teasing. Jamie shook his head and smiling pulled her close.

"Well doesn't matter. We're in this beautiful house and we just had a wonderful meal. I say we continue to make the best of this unique situation and enjoy our stay."

"How sensible."

"Come darling, let me show you around the room," Jamie offered in a slight posh accent –offering his hand. She accepted. "Here we have crown moulding of a late Renaissance design; part of a revival movement in the Nineteenth Century. And here we have a wonderful wardrobe reminiscent of woodworking done by Italian cabinet makers."

"French,"
Sarah corrected kindly.

"You don't say," he exclaimed, "Oh my. Well easily mistakable you can understand. And this here is a tapestry likely dated late Eighteenth Century by its stitching and subject matter. And lastly we have this gorgeous Persian rug which in itself costs a small fortune. Please be mindful of where you step."

"Thank you for the tour," Sarah proclaimed. "You failed to mention this however," she pointed out, moving towards the canopied four poster bed. "Mahogany, late Nineteenth Century. And oh my God these sheets." She'd sat on the bed and kicked off her shoes. "What would you say? Cashmere, silk Egyptian cotton perhaps too? Only the finest in Gracie Manor it seems. Just feel how comfortable this is Jamie."

"Damn this'll be the best sleep I've ever had."

"I'll leave you to that," she exclaimed, sliding off the bed.

"Ah, ah, ah!" he chastised, pulling her back, "I'm not sleepy. I was hoping you would stay a bit so we could chat and spend some time together on our vacation we're having."

"Well I do declare. What a marvellous idea," she replied in a Southern accent. The two laughed and moved to sit on the bed together.

"I don't think Ramsley likes me," Jamie sighed as he fell backwards and lay down.

"What do you mean he doesn't like you?" Sarah asked in amusement.

"Well first of all he gives me the creeps," Jamie started off, "But besides that he just seems like he's being short with me. He's so nice to you. Have you noticed too he barely speaks to me –or at least he barely acknowledges me. I feel like a ghost."

Sarah laughed. "Don't let Mr. Gracie hear you say that. Sounds like that's why he wants to move on."

"It's just an old house. In storms like these especially I'm sure it makes weird noises. Plus the place can hold fifty or more people I'm sure but it's empty. I can see where his intentions might come from."

"I certainly wouldn't want to live here all alone even if I did grow up here which I'm going to assume is possible with him, if this house is his inheritance as he said."

"He probably wants to move because of the cell reception out here. My phone's been going wonky since we got here but with the storm I've had no service since it began. Look at this." Jamie showed her and Sarah nodded in understanding. "I suppose the plus is that no business calls will reach us and we can relax." Jamie sat up and lay against the pillows and Sarah adjusted herself to lay on his shoulder.

"I don't know why but this place just feels so romantic," she murmured, "It's like we've gone back in time a little bit with all this around us."

Jamie smiled but was suddenly quiet.

"Jamie. You okay?" she asked after a few moment of silence.

"Yeah. Yeah just thinking." He paused a moment. "Do you mind if we sit up for a second?"

They did and Sarah stared curiously at Jamie, trying to read his expression. He faced her and smiled shyly.

"I was going to wait until we were at the lake but there's just something about this place…

Sarah, since the moment I met you it's felt like I've known you my whole life. You're my best friend, my business partner, my girlfriend, my roommate… I don't think there's anything I don't do with you!" The two of them laughed softly at this. "But honestly Sarah it's because there's no one else I'd rather go through anything with than you. Together, you and I have always been such a good pair and I'm really happy and grateful to have that. It feels like we can do anything together and judging by the house we're potentially about to take on I kinda think it's true! So since we expanded our business plans last month and it appears that now we're about to enter another league with this sale, I think we should take the next step with us too. I can't have you as my girlfriend anymore.

Sarah I love you so deeply, you're my soulmate; my honest other half; the only one I want to spend my life with and definitely the only one I'd want to be stuck with in a mansion in the middle of nowhere during a storm!"

Sarah laughed despite tears forming from his previous sentiments.

Jamie slid off the bed and got to his knees, holding her right hand in his. He took a deep breath. "Sarah Rebecca Allways, would you do me the greatest honour and let me be the one beside you; your partner through all things?" He produced a ring from his suit pocket. "Will you marry me?"

"Oh my God Jamie!" she breathed, covering her mouth for a moment in shock. "Yes. Yes of course I will!" she answered softly with her hand now to his cheek.

He couldn't keep from grinning as he looked into her smiling face. Jamie dropped his gaze to her left hand and slid the ring onto finger. When he looked back at her she was grinning excitedly.

"It's so beautiful Jamie."

They kissed and Jamie wrapped his arms around her waist and stood up.

"You had the ring with you this whole time?" Sarah asked once they'd pulled apart after several moments of embrace.

"No, it was in my suitcase," he explained, "I decided it was safer with me in case there were any nosy servants."

"How long have you been planning to do this?"

"Let's just say I've known we'd be going to the lake for a couple months now. I purposely didn't have anyone booked for appointments this afternoon."

"You lied Jamie!" she chastised lightly.

"I wanted you to think it was a spontaneous trip so you wouldn't have a chance to suspect anything. Did you suspect anything?"

"Not at all," she answered.

"Was it—is it okay that I decided to do it here instead?" he sounded reproachful.

"No this was incredibly romantic! Just as beautiful as the lake!" She paused a moment. "But might I ask, sweetheart, what your plans were for there? I promise not to be disappointed, cross my heart!"

He laughed softly. "Well see that's the thing; I wanted it to be at the lake but that's why I've been planning so long. I just wasn't sure how I wanted to do it. I finally decided I wanted it to be just you and me, alone, a more relaxed, casual feel. I knew if I planned anything elaborate you'd guess something was up or I'd get too nervous and screw it up.

Besides," he went on, "you and I are always planning, scheduling, thinking ahead, making plans –I wanted this to be just us without all that. So I figured just sitting at the fire, either sunset or stars, and telling you how much you mean to me and how much you fit into my life perfectly. Pretty much everything I said a few moments ago. I'm surprised I got it all out without stumbling over my words!"

Sarah kissed him tenderly, "Even if you did I wouldn't have noticed," she murmured.

"God I love you," Jamie professed and twirled her around. Sarah laughed and he grinned at her.

"Shall we dance my darling?" he asked and she looked amused.

"Dance?"

"Why yes. Look at the size of this space; our living room is smaller than this. Let's use it to our advantage."

He led them around the room in a waltz. "Mr. Evers," Sarah exclaimed, "is there something you're not telling me?"

"Whatever do you mean Miss Allways?" he answered coyly.

"What other talents should I know about?" she inquired lightly.

"You already know I make a mean casserole –and perfect cedar plank salmon… I can't say there's much more beyond that…"

"None that you wish to tell me about now," she challenged, "You're afraid I'll back out of marrying you."

"Eh… maybe… Okay you've caught me," he pretended.

Sarah knew he was kidding and she laughed softly. "Well I'm not a deal breaker. I'm still in. If you haven't failed to frighten me away yet I think you have a good chance of keeping me."

"I won't refute that," he countered.

They danced a little more slowly for a while in happy silence.

"You realize we might have to change our name don't you," she alluded after a few moments.

"Name? Oh for business. Well I guess we should yeah. You want to, I assume?"

"Well I'm definitely taking your name on our wedding day. If it isn't too much trouble to update our business too then I'd like to. It would keep things current. It's the both of us together for everything –like you said." She grinned excitedly. "Evers and Evers Real Estate. I think it sounds just as good as Evers and Allways."

"Ooh and our catch phrase: We want you to be happy for Evers and Evers!"

"Too cheesy?" she asked reproachfully.

"You know me; I love to ham it up all the time. Ham and cheese!" he laughed.

"Jamie you're so silly!" she chuckled. "But that's part of why I love you. C'mere and kiss me."

"If I ever turn this offer down ever, you have my full permission to put me out of my misery…" Jamie stated plainly and moved into his fiancée's embrace.